HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER Catch Up

Oh man, TGIT (Thank Goodness It’s Thursday), ABC’s primetime line up, is back tonight and we cannot wait. I for one am looking forward to seeing how Ms. Shonda Rhimes, is going to continue entertaining us with her freshmen drama “How To Get Away With Murder,” starring award winning actress, Viola Davis.

The first part of the season took us through ever emotion imaginable. We were shocked, angry, sad and turned on. Some of us rooted for the lawyer and her crew, others were “Team Sam.” Regardless of who you think “done it,” I am sure, that we can all use a refresher. So here is a look back, from the beginning, in preparation of tomorrow night’s big premiere.

From the start of the show, we are clued in to the fact that all is not what it seems. The opening scene shows us s group of frantic law students arguing in the woods about something that they talk about every day in class- murder. They flip a coin to decide whether to leave the dead body they are handling or drag it (somehow) across campus during the barn fire that is also going on. Before we can see what it is, we are transported (okay not really… but)…we are transported four months back to where it all began.

We are introduced to Annalise Keating, a tough criminal law professor who also has a very active clientele. Each year, she chooses a select few from her Philadelphia Middleton University law 101 class. The stand outs in the class, Connor, Michaela, Asher, Wes and Laurel, are the select few she chooses for her team. She creates a sense of competition amongst the group by saying that the top student out of the five gets a trophy, oh and by the way, this trophy looks just like the one that is used as the murder in the beginning. Each week too, along with the main case that carries on from episode to episode, she deals with a different non related court case that her associates help her to solve.

In this first episode we learn that Annalise is having an affair with a fine ass chocolate Hercules looking man named Nate, who is also a cop. The students all present their theories to help solve a case. In the end, she uses Nate and humiliates him on the stand to help her win the case and she awards the trophy to Connor.

The main story of the show really starts to develop here when Wes makes friends with Rebecca who he saw arguing with Griffin who is the star football player and also the boyfriend of a missing, not presumed dead, girl Lila who also was a student in Annalise’s husband’s (Sam) class who also has a thing for young girls… Whew.

The rest of the season, we saw the story unfolded. Keep up here as I try not to miss anything.

Annalise reads an article about Lila’s death and in it, the question was posed “was it an accident?” We find that it has been ruled a homicide and a photo of Griffin was posted alongside Lila’s. Wes recognizes the face as the guy he saw Rebecca arguing with a few nights before. While dealing with the details of her current case, the stabbing death of a wealthy man’s wife, she happens upon Sam’s phone and sees an “innocent” message from Lila. She then asks him if he slept with her. He says no, assuring her there was nothing going on.

She later checks Sam’s phone again to see that the previous message has been deleted. She meets with Nate (yes the cop she embarrassed on the stand) and asks him to check to see where Sam was the night Lila died. He agrees.

Wes returns to his apartment to find Rebecca being arrested. He also found out that Griffin has been arrested as well. He tells her not to say anything. We know from the flashbacks that he has fallen in love with her and therefore has taken on her situation as his own.

With this Annalise is pressured by university higher ups to represent Griffin. She is very reluctant due to do so due to the fact that she believes her husband in somehow involved in Lila’s death. At the same time, Nate finds out that Sam was not out of town like he said he was when the girl died. Wes realizes that a phone he let Rebecca hide in his apartment actually belongs to Lila. He poses as a public defender so he can visit her in jail and demands to know why she has Lila’s phone. She doesn’t talk but instead calls him out as a law student.

While out at a bar, Michaela, who is engaged, learned that Connor and her finance have had sex with each when they were teens. A big fight ensures. Annalise picks up Wes from the police station pissed that he didn’t tell her that he knows Rebecca. She tells him to forget about Rebecca and focus on their current client. After everything goes down with the client, Annalise agrees to represent one of the suspects- Rebecca who just confessed to the murder.

Rebecca’s bail is set a $1 million. She then tells Annalise that she didn’t kill Lila and that griffin was pinning the murder on her. When Annalise questions Wes about Rebecca, he doesn’t tell her about the cell phone at first. After he finds out what is on it from Rebecca, then he tells Annalise.

Nate gets caught by Sam snooping around his car for evidence but is able to convince him that he was just out for night run. Bonnie, who has a thing for Sam (bitch) sees Nate and tells his sergeant about it and his affair with Annalise.

Annalise has had a long day and this is the episode where we see her take off all of the enhancements she uses to present herself to the world (wig, make up, eye lashes). Sam kisses her on the face and asks how she got Rebecca out of jail. She turns around, pulls out the phone and asks the billion dollar question, “Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?”

Sam, dumfounded, does admit to having an affair with Lila over the summer and says he lied because he was afraid Annalise would think he killed her (um ya think Sam?). Annalise goes all the way off and kicks him out. Bonnie’s nosey ass hears what’s happen and catches Sam’s glance as he rushes out.

We find out that Nate got fired and he accuses Annalise of telling his boss. Annalise knows it was Bonnie. She brings Rebecca to the house to see if she knows anything about Sam and watches their chat via a video feed. Rebecca knows about the dick pic but not who it is. That is until she goes into the bathroom in Annalise house and notices that the wallpaper matches the wallpaper in the picture on Lila’s phone. She tells Wes to look at the wallpaper and they both know that Sam is Lila’s lover.

Wes confronts Annalise and he storms out when she can’t stop lying. After he has skipped class and ignored her calls, she shows up at his place and asks what he wants. He says to find Rebecca, who has gone missing, or he will tell the cops everything. She orders her associate Frank to do so.

Annalise has the wallpaper in the bathroom replaced and admits she’s doing this for Sam. She and her man have a mini love fest when they are interrupted by Wes and Rebecca. They discuss next steps. Later on, Annalise and Sam are in the bed doing what married people do when Bonnie knocks on the door. She tells her that Lila was pregnant. Annalise turns and looks at Sam.

Of course Annalise asks Sam if it’s his and he, of course says no (mmm hmm yea right Sam). In a flashback, we find out that Lila was a addicted to cocaine and turns to Rebecca as a confidant.

Annalise tells Wes that Lila was pregnant and asked him to keep it from Rebecca. He doesn’t and she instead tells Griffin which plants the notion of getting a DNA test to prove who really killed Lila. Bonnie has a talk with Sam because she met Lila the night she was killed when she came to the house looking for Sam. He kisses her and lies about everything. She tells Annalise what happened and good ole Annie fires her. Annalise then tells Sam that she is going to get a sample from all the men in Lila’s life including her teachers because she will get to the truth one way or another.

Sam and Annalise have a huge fight. He rips the phone from her hands as she dials 911. She admits to her affair with Nate and goes into detail of their escapades. Sam grabs her by the neck. She is able to get away. Then, the crew arrives along with Rebecca and guess what… they kill Sam “accidentally” with the trophy.

We know that the body they are handling in the woods in the flashbacks is Sam. And we find out (because Wes goes back to the house where it happened to get something) that Annalise knows exactly what happens. Lord that’s a lot and is the jest of what happened. Tonight is sure to be explosive. And if you are anti-gay, Shonda Rhimes has a simple message for you, “Bye Felicia”.

Founder of The CurvyGirl Diva Blog, Rasheda lends her opinions and insights about everything from life, fashion, entertainment and pop culture to various websites and blogs. Her motto “tear shit up” guides her writing and her life.